after having it in hand for a couple months, I can say it's a good knife, but there are corners that are cut to reduce cost--explaining why it is cheaper than a comparable benchmade. Even though the materials are the same between my 710 and this hk axis, the differences are: better fit and finish on the benchmade--the handle screws are more robust on the 710 (I actually broke the head off one of my HK screws trying to tighten it but benchmade repaired it in 2 weeks), the liners are thicker and all the edges are rounded off on both the metal liner and the G10 scales on the 710. The action of the knife is smoother on the 710 because the tang of the blade and the actual axis lock are polished more. The blade of the 710 has a brushed satin finish, while the HK has a painted finish and rough grind marks are visible across the spine (the flats of the blade are actually very smooth). The tolerances of the 710 feel tighter than the hk where there is just a fraction of a mm of wiggle up and down and side to side when the blade is locked open, after tightening the pivot to the point where the blade does not swing free. There is also a tiny gap between the handle liner and the standoff on the HK (the reason why I tried to tighten the screw causing it to break).

No, I don't regret it. It's a good knife and the quality of the edge (geometry of the grind, heat treat of the D2) is no different. I don't think most people would care about the differences or be able to tell. For a knife that will get used, this is a fine blade and I don't think the benchmade is worth 40% more when it comes to cutting performance.